“You really like this woman?”
I sat up. “I do.” My heart began racing, and my stomach churned with nerves. Gianni never called me unless it was important.
“But you don’t know her.”
“I do. Just not in the traditional sense,” I defended. “What is a last nameanyway?”
“Everything,” he said firmly. I gulped.
“I want to come to visit you two. Her, mostly. I’m curious. Perhaps she has a lineage that is far more impressive than ours.”
My mouth fell open. “No! I mean—why?”
“Do you really want to argue this with me? If I approve, you’ll get the ring you want.”
I licked my lips, remembering what he had over me. I did want that ring.
“She’s not here right now. I’m actually going to go get her later this week.”
“Oh? Where did she go?”
Fuck if I know.
“Los Angeles,” I lied. “I’ll be back on Monday.”
“I could take a trip. I do enjoy the sights. When do you leave? I’ll go with you.”
I wasn’t entirely sure how to protest, but offered the excuse, “We have to take a special flight. It might be filled already.”
“Oh yeah, the blood flights. They are segregating more and more these days. I prefer it, myself. They don’t usually fill all the seats. Where did you book your flight? I’ll buy a ticket.”
I told him, despite not wanting to. The image of that ring I desperately wanted from him flashed in my mind. That would be the perfect way to bring her home to me. I would find her, we would talk, and then when she opened the door to our apartment, I could get on one knee.
If I wanted that to happen, I’d have to suffer through a weekend with Gianni.
“Good! I’m booked. I’ll see you at the airport.”
The phone clicked off, and I stared down at it for a moment before tossing it aside and grabbing for my laptop. I started planning my trip more thoroughly. I booked a hotel and a rental car.
Sometime later, I got up to stretch my legs. I glanced at the mirror again as I passed by and paused. She couldn’t see me like this. I was a mess. It wasn’t enough for me to clean up our home. I had to clean up myself too.
I started with laundry, then started stretching and going for runs when I woke up. The days leading up to my flight, I made sure I was drinking enough blood and getting out to breathe fresh air. By the time I was heading for the airport, I felt almost normal, minus the hole in my heart.
Gianni was waiting for me in a three-piece suit. I looked like trash standing next to him in my band tee and leather jacket. He stood when he saw me and eyed me up and down with a look of amusement on his face.
He snapped his fingers a few times, then laughed. “That’s where I’ve seen that look. You look like you came out of the eighties.”
“I did,” I said sharply. “I wanted to make sure people could tell us apart,” I smirked. He and I both hated how much we looked alike. His face fell, and then he pointed to his eyes.
“Oh, I think they’ll know who’s who.” His red eyes lit as he stared into my cursed ones.
I flipped him off, and we sat down across from each other, waiting for our flight. He had brought his tablet and chose to read something rather than converse, which was fine with me. I put my earbuds in and put on my music.
The plane ride was much the same. We chatted some. He wanted to know more about Scout, but when I continued to not know the answers to things, he turned away from me and back to his tablet.
The car rental wasn’t far from the airport, so we were able to pick it up right away. From there, I put the GPS on and started off.
“Where are we going exactly?”
